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From the Editors: Shapiro’s unsustainable budget
Democrats love to use the word “sustainable” lately, so they really ought to take their own advice and look at the commonwealth’s budget through that lens.
The 2019-2020 total budget was $33.9 billion. The current proposed budget for 2025-2026 from Governor Shapiro is $51.5 billion. That’s a 51 percent increase in a short six-year period, which we will not hesitate in calling it what it is: unsustainable.
Nearly as concerning is the fact that the current budget proposal calls for about $4.5 billion of spending from two sources of non-recurring revenue. That means almost nine percent of the proposed budget is being paid for by one-time revenue sources. Again — unsustainable, without a 32 percent increase in the income tax.
Obviously, with a budget in the tens of billions of dollars, there are infinite points of context that can be added or subtracted from the discussion. We realize we’re not addressing those in the present editorial. But sometimes it’s helpful to do nothing but set the trees to the side momentarily and measure the size of the forest.
These facts, even on a standalone basis, should give every Pennsylvanian pause.
In contrast, the gross domestic product for the commonwealth is up about 32 percent over the same time. From our standpoint, it’s not suitable to think the state budget should grow at an equal pace with the state’s economy. Ideally, the budget should always grow slower. But Shapiro and his administration have taken the opposite view, imagining a state government that has an ever-expanding role in the economy and consumes an ever-growing slice of your paycheck.
The truth is Pennsylvania’s population and economy are growing at a slower rate than that of the country overall — we aren’t shrinking, but we’re failing to keep pace with more dynamic states that are friendlier to taxpayers and to businesses. People have a choice about where they can live, more than ever since the rise of work-from-home jobs. States can no longer rest on past achievements or count on their people to stay put.
All this spending might be easier to accept if it were paired with major reforms — like school choice, regulatory overhaul, or long-term pension fixes. But those ideas are nowhere in this proposal. Instead, taxpayers are footing the bill for a status quo that only grows more expensive without delivering any improvement in services — more money for the same product.
The two sources of non-recurring revenue, $1.6 billion from the rainy day fund and $2.9 billion from other reserves, make up 8.7 percent of the funding in Shapiro’s budget, and are set to run out, conveniently, after the governor’s reelection campaign.
What will happen then? Pennsylvania’s constitution requires a balanced budget, so the legislature’s only options at that point will be to cut their spending or to raise your taxes.
The governor is effectively requiring Pennsylvanians to subsidize his reelection campaign. But, not to worry, the bill won’t come due until after he secures a second term in office.
Shapiro always has his eye on the next job, and demonstrates a unique capacity to create the illusion of effectiveness just long enough to launch his next bid for office. Maybe if he makes it to the White House, he can send more temporary federal funds to Harrisburg to bail out the folks he will have left behind.
A better answer: fix Pennsylvania’s spending problem now and run on a record of real fiscal success and sanity.
Excellent points.
Please also remember that Gov. Shapiro is recklessly endangering PA’s social fabric pushing gambling and drug sales: these activities, when promoted or normalized, can cause profound and far-reaching harm to individuals, families, and entire communities. Gov Shapiro presents himself as a sharp, intelligent, assertive leader. He is actually a bum, a bully, and deserves our contempt and scorn. He is actually a danger and a menace to the less advantaged bottom half of our PA population, and he does not care about PA’s children. All of the polite talking heads on TV and the radio – like Dawn Stensland and Dom Giordano – should know better than to offer Shapiro anything but disdain. Instead of actively call him out for his reckless, gross, and indefensible positions they swoon over him. He is a con man and a grifter, much worse than a simple door-to-door swindler, and they still fall for it.
An accurate definition of a politician is: “one who is grossly irresponsible with other people’s money.”
Find us an exception, please.
Though, the concept of DOGE gives one hope for any level of government.
In our own city government, for example, 124 departments, commissions, agencies and committees are listed on the city’s website. Look them up. How many have you never heard of before?
I bet we could close 25-50% of them, which are past their usefulness, are redundant, never made any sense and, as a result, have a nimble, more effective and efficient city government for $1 or $2 billion less tax cost.
Until Republicans identify a charismatic, I try, politically adept and strong communicator our state government will not keep the spending of the current governor and Democratic Party in check. We need to get rid of the current state government practices of surrendering our taxes to political favorites. Our energy reserves should be our biggest revenue generators in PA. Additionally the state government should provide funding to counties and municipalities to offset the shortage of starter homes in the commonwealth, our next Governor must attack the permitting problem throughout the commonwealth that adds between 10 and 17% of the cost of a new home to the months of wasted time to begin construction. If young Pennsylvanians can’t own a home by their 25th birthday they will leave the state as they have for the last 50 years.